Metal Hearts
by meteor9
Summary: [Story follows the best ending] Their mission completed, the two heroes thought they were finally free to enjoy their lives. The rest of the world doesn't share their mindset. And Balrog just wants to rest his arms.
1. Chapter 1

**Metal Hearts**

**A Cave Story Romance of Sorts by meteor9**

**Chapter 1**

As the sun continued to rise, bathing the floating island in its light, a small figure could be seen flying away to the east. Though, it was only small in comparison to the chunk of rock it was escaping.

Balrog, for all intents and purposes, was about the size of a small truck. It was a wonder that he could even fly at all, let alone carrying two passengers with him. And while Quote and Curly Brace might look like ordinary folk to some, the reality was they were both more machine than anything else, and as such were appropriately heavier than they looked. So, in a physical sense the whole scene was just absurd, with the large box flapping his tiny arms in a comical fashion.

Their transport spoke up after a few moments, trying to make conversation. "So!"

They waited for him to continue, but as he didn't, Curly prodded. "So?"

He took another moment to think on it. When he came up with what he felt was a reasonable question, he replied, "So, what are you going to do now? I can take you anywhere."

"Hmm...you're right," answered the female android. "Well, our mission is over, and now I just want to live out my days somewhere where I can relax and enjoy a beautiful view." She turned and smiled to her partner, who up until now hadn't really said much. "How does that sound, Quote?"

He nodded, and smiled back. "I could go for that."

They continued their flight across the valley below, to a destination that still had yet to be decided. Of course, it's not like any of them were in a hurry. Considering the events of the past day or so, it was surprising that any of them were still awake. For now, they just relaxed, exerting no more effort than needed to hold on to Balrog as he floated along. The breeze was refreshing after having spent so long deep within the caverns of the island.

Still, Balrog was a bit uneasy. "Uh...you know," he muttered nervously, and trailing off into silence.

Curly tried to hear what he was saying, but she couldn't make out his voice over the wind. "What's that?"

"Would it be alright if I joined you guys? It sounds nice."

Without hesitation, Curly nodded and answered, "Sure!"

Quote, trusting her decision, also joined in. "Yeah, that's fine by me."

"All three of us'll live together," Curly exclaimed happily. "It'll be fun!"

Now, Balrog honestly hadn't expected so sudden a reply. Even if he had been under the control of the crown the whole time, he still found their eagerness to forgive and forget rather strange. "...really?"

"Yeah! I'll even let you pick the spot."

Quote suddenly had a feeling of dread. "Um, wait, can I just add-"

Curly continued as if he wasn't even talking. "Just, pick a good place, alright?"

"But-"

"You got it! Hang on tight!" With that, Balrog leaned towards the southeast and sailed off towards the mountains.

"Well," muttered Qoute. "This'll be an adventure, for sure..."

* * *

"Well...the view IS nice up here," said Curly, trying to be reassuring while also rubbing her arms to keep herself warm. 

"You don't like it," pouted the large box. "That's okay, we can pick another spot."

"Mmph mmmph." Quote was attempting to be curteous to his new friend as well, but, it was difficult trying to speak through his scarf. He had wrapped it at least three times around his face in order to stave off the biting mountain winds, after all. So, he shrugged and nodded an apology.

"I just think it might be a little too chilly. I'm sorry, Balrog."

One might think it strange that a robot would be concerned about the temperature. Aside from overheating, that is. But, one has to consider that these two weren't ordinary robots. They both ate, drank, breathed, and slept just like an ordinary human being would, and seemingly with the results as with humans, too. This led them to believe that if they weren't androids, machines with biological aspects, then they were radically impressive robots. Balrog himself speculated the former, as he had handled both of the fighters when he helped them escape from Ballos' throne room, and decided they felt particularly and organically alive in his hands. Then again, it could've just been all the shaking and overheating weaponry, as well.

Still, if they were cold, they were cold. "Ah, no problem! We'll just find somewhere warmer, that's all! All aboard!"

* * *

They continued on their journey for the rest of the day, stopping every hour or so to scope out a potential new home, or to at least let Balrog rest his stubby arms. It wasn't an eventful day, really. Each promising vista had enough drawbacks to send the trio back to the sky, and in between there were numerous sites that were just terrible once they got up close and personal with them. Both Quote and Balrog were choosing locations now, as Balrog was the first to admit that he really had no clue what would make a good spot, having been stuck on the island for so many decades. Quote wasn't having much luck, either, as his memory of the world was still quite fuzzy, despite Curly's attempts to fill in the holes during their trip. And since Curly was busy relating as much info as she could to her friends, she wasn't accomplishing much in the way of surveying the terrain. 

So, as the sun set on the day after the fateful battle, the heroes of the conflict found themselves back inside the last environment they ever thought they'd have to deal with again. A dank cave.

"No way! There's just no way I'm staying in a cave!" Curly was furious, needless to say. "I spent the last ten years trapped in that hellhole in the sky! I'm not spending another night in the ground if it's the last thing I do!"

While Balrog stood around looking sheepish, feeling a bit guilty about choosing this last location for the day, Quote tried his best to reason with his fellow combat android. "Come on, Curly, it's just for one night. And we'll be right near the entrance, too."

"Nuh-uh."

Quote continued his assualt of persuasion. "Well, we can't stay outside. It looks like it's gonna rain pretty hard tonight."

"I'll take my chances."

"But...but what if you get flooded again?" He was forced to bring up a point that he really didn't want to, if only because he didn't want to remember it himself. And it probably was a stupid thing to worry about, as well. Unless it was a hurricane, the chances that either one of them could be flooded by a mere rainstorm were pretty low. Stupid or not, though, it worried him.

She sighed, seeing that it honestly bothered him. Still, she would hold firm, so she smiled at him as reassuringly as she could. "I'll just keep my airtank handy. You'll be in the cave, right? You won't need it."

Defeated, Quote handed her airtank back to her. "Alright, alright."

* * *

She hadn't expected it to be so cold. The rain had already come and gone, lasting no more than fifteen minutes, which was quite far from Quote's prediction. But the wind had picked up afterwards, and she couldn't get a fire started in such poor conditions. She considered her options for a moment, but decided she'd be better off trying to find shelter under a tree than returning to that cavern. Finding the thickest one around, she got behind it, out of the wind, sat down, and leaned up against it's trunk. 

After spending an hour lost in thought, trying to put all the events of the last two days into perspective, she allowed herself to drift off to sleep.

* * *

She awoke to the sounds, or maybe just the vibrations, of a woodpecker jabbing away at her tree. It took her a moment to remember where she was, and when she did, she was surprised. A large, red scarf was laying around her, rather jumbled, though it was apparent that someone had tried to cover her with it. Quote's scarf. Curly looked around to see if she could find the boyish android, and found him lying in the grass nearby, scarfless, and shivering slightly. "Oh, Quote..." She unwrapped the fabric from around herself and tried her best to cover her comrade. He stirred momentarily, but soon settled into his scarf, already seeming warmer to Curly. 

The sun was coming up, and she knew it'd be getting warmer soon. So, she didn't mind laying back down in the cool grass, and falling alseep next to the one with whom she shared an iron bond.

_To be continued next chapter..._

* * *

_Notes:_

_No, literally, I'm pretty sure it's an Iron Bond. Check your inventory sometime, and tell me if I'm stupid. _

_Anyway, this chapter was proofread by the always wonderful Black Waltz 0. I loves ya! If ya'll noticed, the opening to this chapter is pretty much lifted/paraphrased from the best ending of Cave Story. Now, if this is a spoiler to you, I just have to question what you're doing reading fanfics about something you haven't finished yet. Honestly, now._

_So, I'm allowed to have one joke. We were discussing how a romance would work with one of the bad endings to this game, and...well..._

* * *

_Quote finally emerged from the basement, carrying with him something hidden under a sheet. "Look, everybody," he called. "Curly's back!" Everyone gathered into the room, waiting to meet this other robot that Quote had often told them of. When they had settled, he dramatically removed the sheet. Underneath was a crude assemblage of a mop, three cans, and various lengths of wire. Attached to the mop head were three googly eyes for some unknown reason. "It's Curly!" shouted the excited Quote. He then started to hug the abomination and stroke it's strands...I mean hair. _

_Sue proceeded to beat the crap out of him._


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I'm not Pixel, and as such, I'm not the wonderful man responsible for creating this game. Do enjoy the little fanficlet, would you?

* * *

**Chapter 2**

It was yet another beautiful day, a sign that somewhere up in the heavens there was a deity pleased with the three travelers making their way across the skies, looking for a home. While they didn't make much progress on the previous day, they felt that they'd learned enough from that trial-and-error session to be able to find a good spot soon enough. So, along they floated, riding the air currents over the rolling hills.

Suddenly, a loud growl sent Quote and Curly into alert, both of them readying their firearms and scanning the area in an instant.

However, it wasn't much to worry about. "Sorry, 'bout that," muttered Balrog. "I haven't eaten anything since we left the island."

It was only then that the realization hit one Curly Brace. "Oh...I don't think I thought this one through too well..."

To this, Quote inquired, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I was just so excited to be out of that flying dungeon that I didn't plan our next objective too thoroughly. For one, we've got no supplies. Two, we've got no food or drink. And three, well, we're both rather high-maintenance people."

"High-maintenance?" asked Quote, somewhat baffled. "You seem pretty easy-going to me."

She barely repressed a giggle at that one. "No, no, I meant that literally. Exactly how are we going to fix ourselves if something were to happen?" After all, between the two of them, only Curly stood a chance of knowing any of the proper procedures, being the only one with any memories extending beyond the last week. So, if something happened to Quote, she might be able to do something, but if something happened to her...

Well, she didn't want to imagine Balrog trying to summon the engineering know-how for that. She supposed that she could try to teach Quote what to do when it came to robotic repairs, as he only really knew how to drain a robot, but that could take quite a while, and she wasn't entirely sure just how well she knew the subject matter, either.

So, she came to a conclusion. "I think we need to find civilization."

Balrog nodded, almost flinging Quote into the air in the process. "You make a pretty good point, Curly. But...uh, did anybody see any cities in the last two days? I haven't."

"Maybe we should track down the Sakamotos," suggested a now re-situated Quote. "I think they may be the only allies we really have."

"From what you've told me of them, that sounds like a good idea. But, do you have any idea where they went?"

"Well, not really. Their helicopter was already gone by the time I reached the prefab building, and I didn't see where Sue ran off too." He paused for a moment, and bowed his head a little. "Really, I don't even know if they made it. The copter may have been crushed under a ceiling block, and Sue, too." At this, he fell silent for a while. However, just when his companion was about to speak up, a thought dawned on him. "Kazuma might be fine, though. He left before I even got to the plantation."

"Kazuma...he was the one who left on the dragon, right?"

Quote nodded.

"Well, then it looks like we're in luck," stated Curly, who began to wave vigorously at something over Quote's shoulder. Confused, he turned around to see what exactly had her so excited, not really expecting to be just as excited once he saw what it was.

A baby dragon was heading their way, carrying a rather tired looking Kazuma Sakamoto.

* * *

"Ah, you have no idea how glad I am to have found you guys." The group of them had landed once they'd seen each other in the air, finding the closest habitable location which happened to be a small clearing in an otherwise dense forest. Kazuma only wasted a second to stretch, having spent far too long on the back of the young sky dragon, before getting right to the point. "At first, I was heading home, but then after a while, this little guy," he said, patting the green lizard for emphasis, "just started heading off in the other direction."

"So, how'd you get him under control?" asked Quote.

"Er, well, I didn't. He kinda took me straight to you."

At this point, Quote, Curly, and Balrog all stared at the ridiculously adorable dragon. The two robots were unable to formulate any sort of answer to this curiousity, but suddenly Balrog inquired "Was this one in Egg 00?"

Kazuma scratched the back of his head, trying to remember. "Uh...yeah. Yeah, that's the one."

By now, the dragon had begun nuzzling up against Balrog's side. "That egg was the only one I was able to take care of before the Doctor told me to stop wasting my time down- wha...HEY! Stop nibbling on my hand!" The dragon backed off a bit, but still stood nearby staring at the large, boxy being like a lost puppy.

Curly seemed to find this funny. "Aw, he likes you!"

"I guess he is kind of endearing. In a dumb sort of- OW!" Balrog quickly removed his hand from the dragon's mouth again. "What? Do I look like food or something?"

"Well," quipped Kazuma, "I always thought you were a giant toaster."

"Jerk."

The group decided to camp out in the clearing for a few hours, so that Balrog and the sky dragon could rest up for the return journey in the opposite direction. Curly was shocked, and a little bit disappointed, to find out that they had originally been headed towards a huge desert, days from civilization. However, Kazuma was more than willing to lead them back to the nearest city.

While they waited, Quote questioned the eldest Sakamoto child about the whereabouts of his family. Kazuma told him that Sue had just fallen out of nowhere when he first took off, and the dragon barely caught her by the back of her shirt. He managed to catch up with his family's copter, and together they landed about a mile from the island, which had stopped falling by the time they set foot on the ground. Exhausted, they decided to recover from their recent ordeal by resting inside the vehicle overnight, but while Kazuma attempted to feed the sky dragon a few hours later, it broke free of it's rope, and all he could to was leap on it in hopes of calming it down. Surprisingly, it worked, and the young man went back to sleep. The next morning he told his family that he'd follow them on the sky dragon, saying that he enjoyed the open air. Twenty minutes into the flight, though, the lizard abruptly changed course and brought him to his current location.

Quote theorized that the dragon followed Balrog because it thought he was its mother, a thesis that Balrog was quick to dismiss.

After they felt rested enough, they all boarded their respective aircraft, a dragon and a large...whatever Balrog is, and headed on their way.

* * *

"Commander, what do you make of this situation?"

"I can't say for sure, but, we do know that the Island hasn't moved an inch in decades. Whatever happened up there had to have been monumental."

"Do you think that research team was involved, sir?"

"That may very well be the case."

"What are your orders, sir?"

"Send a scout party to the Island. I can't shake the feeling that we may have finally won this fight."

"Right away, sir." With that, the communications officer signaled the outpost of their new orders.

* * *

Hurried footfalls echoed through the halls of the Second Northeast Outpost. This was rather unusual for the near-abandoned station, as it hadn't been fully staffed in almost a decade. Instead of the two hundred it could support, it was only occupied by six. And currently running through the base was Lieutenant Hiroko Yamagata. Though her pace was rushed, her face remained calm, focused, and almost aloof. She maintained a tight grip on the documents she carried as she quickly turned one last corner before making it to the office at then end of the hallway.

"General Sakamoto, we've just received word from HQ," informed the lieutenant, placing the paperwork she carried down on the desk in front of her.

"Go ahead," replied the larger officer behind the desk.

"The research team from the Island has returned. They say that it almost crashed to the ground."

"Is that so? Hmph, took them long enough," mused the General while stroking his beard in an absent-minded fashion. "What else?"

"We're being sent in to investigate, effective immediately."

"Alright, alert the team. We leave in an hour."

"Yes sir."

_

* * *

To be continued..._**

* * *

Notes:**

Normally I'm not one to leap all over the random Japanese names, but, considering how the research team and the Doctor had Japanese names, I figured it'd make sense if others associated with...uh...where ever they came from had similar names. So...yes. No worries, this isn't gonna degenerate into fangirl Japanese. Especially not the fangirl part.

...desu forever.


End file.
